What is estate?

I'm not sure which estate you are referring to.  If the tort claim existed before you filed your Chapter 7 case, then it is an asset of your bankruptcy estate.  The "estate" is formed when you file your bankruptcy and consists of any and all assets and property that you (the debtor) has an interest in on the date the case is filed.  This includes future rights to claims that exist in lawsuits, such as your tort claim. For the full definition of "property of the estate" under 11 U.S.C. 541, click here. The Trustee of the bankruptcy becomes the owner of all assets in the estate unless and until he/she decides not to sell a given asset.  If you exempted the asset under applicable law, then the Trustee would simply give it back to you upon closing of your case.    Once your case is closed, any assets the Trustee has not administered revert back to you.   In this case, since your case was reopened because of this asset, whether and to what extent you can protect it depends on what exemptions you have available that you haven't already used on other assets. Exemptions are "protections" for value you have in certain assets such that they are "exempt" from collections.  Every state has different exemptions amounts available. Exemption laws are based on the state where you resided for the 2 years prior to filing your bankruptcy case or, if you lived in more than 1 state during that period, in the state where you resided for the greater part of the 180 days prior to that 2 year period. Mark J. Markus, Attorney at Law Handling exclusively bankruptcy law cases in California since 1991. http://www.bklaw.com/ bankruptcy blog: http://www.bklaw.com/bankruptcy-blog/ Follow Me on Twitter:  @bklawr